Nick Bailey – Nostalgia Central

Born in London in April 1947, Nick Bailey was educated at the Lycée François until he was 11. It was then that his father, actor Robin Bailey, went to Australia to play the lead in the Australian production of My Fair Lady. Young Nick went with his family, and it was three years before he returned to Britain to complete his education.

Schooling completed, he joined the Margate Stage Company in Plymouth, where he made his first public appearance in a walk-on part.

After six months at Plymouth, he moved to the Mermaid Theatre in London to join the publicity department.

In September 1966, Nick joined Radio Caroline South as a newsreader. He later transferred to the Caroline North ship, broadcasting from the Irish Sea and stayed with the pirate operation until August 1967, when the British government officially outlawed offshore stations via the Marine Offences Act.

Bailey then used a £10 assisted passage ticket to emigrate to Australia, where he re-launched his presenting career in outback New South Wales and Queensland.

Following a five-year stint in Australia, he worked around the globe – including Gibraltar and West Germany (at the height of the Cold War) – as a broadcaster with the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) in the 70s and 80s.

He also spent ten years working in Hong Kong as co-host of the prominent morning current affairs programme for Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) and later became BBC Radio 5’s official Hong Kong correspondent when that station debuted in 1990.

In 1992, Bailey returned to the UK to join the launch team of the nation’s first national independent commercial radio station, Classic FM. On 7 September 1992, his voice famously introduced the station to millions of listeners.

He stayed with the station for 25-years and officially retired from Classic FM on its 25th anniversary in 2017.